Bromo After Eruption

Got back from Ijen, we're supposed to go with sulfur truck, but we missed it, and the only option left was taking ojek/motorcycle to Sempol to catch minivan to Bondowoso. But (again) we're cheapshit, so we asked around to get free ride. Unfortunately there's only several jeeps and cars there, and all of their destinations were not the one we're heading to. We finally got a ride from a minivan full of Medanese aunties. The first time we asked them for a ride, a younger lady said the van was full with straight face, so we gave up and we did bargain for ojek rides cos no more cars we could ask for favor, but later on an older one in their group said we could fit in if we want, of course we wanted to!! And it was the bumpiest ride I've ever been, the road from Paltuding down to Banyuwangi was extremely damaged, I felt sorry for the minivan, it's obviously not meant for those track. I should salute the minivan too for not broken down, I was worried the tires will be detached.

Another excuse to travel while still young, two of the oldest aunties didn't join the hiking to the crater, they waited in the car for hours. See what we would miss if we didn't start to travel earlier?? Don't remind me cos I didn't travel too when I was younger :( but it's never too late anyway :)

We stopped to have late lunch at Banyuwangi and joined them till Ketapang cos they're on their way to Bali. We made it to catch bus to Probolinggo, but we arrived there at almost 10 PM. The minivan heading to Cemoro Lawang (where the guesthouses and jeep rentals are) are available at any time, but they will only depart if the passengers were enough. What a bad luck, we waited until 2 AM but still no other passengers and we had to chartered the minivan by paying 6 persons tariff :( We had no other options since we've booked jeep to see sunrise with a guide and have to be there before 4 AM. The most irritating thing was when we arrived at the meeting point, the moron guide said he sold our seats to other tourists already. We met this guide when he tried to approach us at Bondowoso, then we met him again on the way to Ijen, at there he said that he's guiding 2 foreigners and they're heading to Bromo afterward, so we could join their jeep for sunrise hunting. We thought that would be perfect, we don't have to bother bout jeep anymore, guess it was a mistake trusting him. it's true that we haven't paid any money in advance, but we kept on updating him bout our situation when we're waiting for the minivan. I was officially didn't sleep at all for 24 hours and exhausted, so I guess I have the rights to raise my voice to the highest pitch tone, especially when it's almost 4AM when we found out about that. Some tourists were already about to do the tour, while we're still standing there disappointed, desperately looking for another option since we already gave our all to be there. Some glove sellers heard my furious voice and offered to find other jeep, we got it eventually.

Bromo itself is always spectacular as I remember, a picture perfect, you don't need to have fancy camera to catch its beauty, an obsolete one will also give you an appropriate postcard picture. But after the eruption, the former viewing point can't be accessed anymore and they make a new one. To get there, we need to walk a lil bit (or horse riding) then climb several stairs,and that's pretty tiring (I'm lame I know). The new viewing point is not high enough, so we can see the cluster of volcanoes clearly without any cloud (the cloud is my all time fave view), yet the sunrise is covered by a hill. I prefer the previous one of course :|

After freezing sunrise hunting, we headed to "Lautan Pasir" literally means sea of sands to get to Bromo crater that still active. Once again we need to walk pretty long and another stairs (horses are ready for a slob with money, I'm slob without money so I didn't go to see the crater, Shanty did). We finished the sunrise tour by 8 AM and we headed to Malang for a rest, a good one, I hit the sack again after more than 40 hours on the road without sleeping.